Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down 2%; Thomson Reuters Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.95 percent to 26,187.81 while the NASDAQ declined 0.66 percent to 7,417.27. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.75 percent to 2,832.22.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Tuesday, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained by 0.15 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Sears Holdings Corp SHLD, up 6 percent, and International Speedway Corp ISCA, up 6 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares tumbled 1.64 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Ballard Power Systems Inc. (USA) BLDP, down 8 percent, and W&T Offshore, Inc. WTI down 8 percent.

Top Headline

Pfizer Inc. PFE reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Pfizer posted adjusted earnings of $0.62 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $13.70 billion. However, Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.56 per share on revenue of $13.68 billion.

Pfizer expects 2018 earnings of $2.90 to $3.00 per share, on sales of $53.5 billion to $55.5 billion. Analysts projected earnings of $2.78 per share on sales of $53.9 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Thomson Reuters Corp TRI shares shot up 10 percent to $47.53 after the company confirmed advanced discussions with Blackstone regarding a potential partnership in Financial & Risk business.

Shares of Callidus Software Inc. CALD got a boost, shooting up 10 percent to $36.10. SAP SE (ADR) SAP announced plans to acquire Callidus Software for $36 per share.

Extreme Networks, Inc EXTR shares were also up, gaining 11 percent to $15.21. Extreme Networks will replace Time Inc. TIME in the S&P SmallCap 600 on Thursday, February 1.

Equities Trading DOWN

Scotts Miracle-Gro Co SMG shares dropped 16 percent to $89.78 after the company posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss.

Shares of Polaris Industries Inc. PII were down 11 percent to $119.10 . Polaris posted in-line Q4 earnings, but issued weak sales forecast for FY 2018.

Sun Hydraulics Corporation SNHY was down, falling around 9 percent to $62.98 after reporting preliminary FY17 sales of $341.5 million-$343.5 million. EPS is expected to come in at $1.54-$1.58. The company also announced a 4 million-share common stock offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2 percent to $64.24 while gold traded up 0.10 percent to $1,346.50.

Silver traded up 0.34 percent Tuesday to $17.185, while copper fell 0.11 percent to $3.1905.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.82 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.11 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 1.39 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.77 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.80 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.02 percent.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index rose 0.2 percent for November versus October.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose to 125.40 for January, versus prior reading of 123.10.

Data on farm prices for December will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.